I recently heard that Facebook had released a “lite” version, something I needed to check out. I personally think that Facebook is way bloated with useless apps that clog up yours and everyone else’s feeds. I don’t care what kind of crappy domestic beer I am akin to (why are they never any good choices on that list anyway? ) and no I don’t want to help you beat up old ladies to get some street cred with your virtual crime syndicate.
If I do end up looking at someone’s Facebook page all I want it to look at is their wall, their pictures, and the information they put up there for me to read. “ooooh we like the same band”
Its called Facebook and to me that says show a face and some information about that face and put them all together like a book, and the book in the this case is virtual and held together not by glue but by social linkages. The day I received my first request to allow a Facebook app to run, was the day I cringed for Facebook. I am sure they have made more money than I will ever see ever, and I am sure the apps helped (I could probably find some numbers to back this up, but I am just a dude with an opinion and not a reputable journalist, Ryan can take the lead there*) but the apps for the most part add little actual social networking value and detract from the important things on the pages and in the feeds. I would much rather know that someone was “It is an absolutely beautiful day out, perfect day to sit on the porch and write resumes and cover letters!” than jerko from college had received 10 vassals today. Firstly, if I don’t care about the resumes and cover letters than I can just skip it, but jerko from college’s update has pictures and required a whole lot more scrolling to get away from and ignore. Basically the apps are just bloat.
The bloat that I have seen inflate and inflate around Facebook is exactly why I defected to Twitter for my primary means of social media. It is also the bloat that kept me away from MySpace, and why I embraced Facebook originally. Now there is an “opt in” version of Facebook with all the bloat and one without. Oh Happy Day! Now the people that want to play scrabble and beat up grannys while farming radishes can do that, and I can get back to what Facebook was meant for… stalking people… I mean being a book of faces.
Bloat is bad. Bloat has all but killed MySpace, and I was sure it was going to kill Facebook one of these days, but it looks like the people over at Facebook gave this some thought and given those among us who want to avoid the bloat a way to do just that. It is this kind of flexible thinking that, if Facebook keeps it up, will allow them to continue to dominate the social media space and change and evolve to keep up with the changing Internet.
*Ryan's Note: The data on the subject of profits from Facebook apps is mostly a year old and seems to indicate the profits boomed at first and was dying down by late 2008. Some sources say a developer can make as much as $1.5 million off an app in a few months and others say that amount could take a year to reach. The general consensus on how much Facebook makes off the apps peaked at $12 million mid way through 2008 and has since tapered off considerably. But again, little of this is current data and I do stuff like this all day, so 10 minutes is all I'll willing to spare at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment